Should You Post Listings on Web Directories?

This article is not really about whether you should post listings on web directories but who should be posting your listings. I’ve already written an article here about the fact that listings on directories should not hurt you if the directory is a well run directory.

SuperPages.com and YellowPages.com are directories. There is nothing wrong with these directories. In fact, I run a directory which is a yellow page directory for criminal defense lawyers and has over 1,000 listings. The ads are really also listings with a website link.

What makes my directory or yellow page website successful is the time I spend to make sure that the ads are accurate; include all the information necessary; are appropriately categorized; and are written properly.

The ads are submitted by three types of people:

The advertiser

A search engine optimization company in the US

A search engine optimization company in another country

The problem I encounter is with listings submitted by foreign search engine optimization companies. Some of these are very poorly written or are missing important information such as a telephone number or address. Of course, they always include a website link which often seems to be there only focus. Some of these can be salvaged if I want to take the time to locate the telephone number or address or rewrite the advertising information. Sometimes, I locate and contact the advertiser to obtain and verify the information and other times I simply delete the listing.

Following is an example of a listing which was obviously not submitted by the advertiser and I seriously doubt was submitted by a search engine optimization company in the US (this leaves only a foreign search engine optimization company):

“Steven J. Pi… is not so smart in the laws and does not recognize which points to focus on and what strategy to follow. this could be very necessary as a drug conviction detail stays on your criminal record for your career.”

A listing such as the one above will not only make sure that no one calls you but these listings will be penalized by Google if you have enough of them. I work hard to keep these off my directory so that I don’t get penalized by Google.

If you’re going to have a search engine optimization company or any other company submit listings for you or manage your advertising, it’s worth spending more to have someone in the US do it for you, if you’re not going to do it yourself.